Event Details

Unlike many of his contemporaries, the musical career of Tom Withers began way before the sounds of drum and bass or even hardcore had first emerged. As Tommy Stupid he fronted skate punk outfit The Stupids and took the band on tours of Europe, the USA and Australia during the late 1980s before venturing into electronic music and starting his own solo career. From acid house and techno he made a natural progression into rave and then hardcore before playing his first gigs as a drum and bass DJ around 1996. Throughout his career, he's always been happy to let his rebel roots show and has never been afraid to buck the trend. His ability tocombine a multitude of influences in his music, from techno to thrash to dub, with punk attitude is Klute's trademark.Klute's early forays into jungle brought several outings on the seminal Certificate 18 label and a relationship grew that resulted in the release of his first artist album, 'Casual Bodies' in 1998. He went on to release a further album 'Fear of People' on Certificate 18 in 2000 before seeking a new home following the demise of the label.Initially fearing that no-one else would want to release his music, at time when the scene seemed to be dominated by sound-alikes and trend followers, Klute went his own way and set up his own imprint. Klute kicked off Commercial Suicide with the genre-defying classic 'Tranceformat' in 2001 and set the tone for the label that has since come to be held in the highest regard. Releases from the likes of Calibre, Digital, Spirit, Hive and Juju raised the label's profile and helped build a reputation for varied output across the spectrum of drum and bass, testing both musical boundaries and the dancefloor. Klute released his third album 'Lie Cheat & Steal' in 2003 including guest remixes from Calibre and Keaton, with 'No One's Listen- ing Anymore' following in 2004. In 2006 Klute showed his faith in two of the scene's most promising artists, Amit and SKC, by putting out their debut artist albums and has continued to support developing artists with a steady stream of releases from the likes of The Upbeats, Break and Ill Skillz. Klute neatly summed up the ethos behind the label, in an interview for DogsOnAcid in February 2008: "My whole purpose is to organically release music I like for the sake of people who like music; not hype and lies." His LP, 'Music For Prophet,' is arguably one of Klute's finest pieces and gives the fullest representation of his sound across a double CD release incorporating a wide span of tempos and moods. Klute crafted an album where every track sounds unique yet all sound unmistakably his own. Combining heart-stopping melodies with deep and deadly beats, the mood moves from melancholic to uplifting in a truly widescreen presentation to appeal a broad base of fans. After the album, Klute turned his focus to further developing his label into the accomplished and hugely influential innovative force it has become. "To me drum & bass is a form of music which has always been out on a limb and the tracks that have shocked me are those that have expanded on what went before them, whether that's people using the technology in ways that you're not supposed to or just turning around sounds in different ways. As far as I am concerned people taking chances is the future and I would like to think that my material falls into that category." Over the last few years Commercial Suicide has released music from the likes of Nymfo, Calibre, Optiv & BTK, Break, Dose, Need For Mirrors, DJ Marky, Skeptical, Mindscape, Prolix, Foreign Concept, S.P.Y, Amit and many, many more.

Over the past decade, NZ native Cern has entrenched himself as a strong presence in the global drum and bass scene, proving his skills in the studio are matched by his selection in the club. Since his first release in 2008, Cern has amassed a long list of standout releases on heavyweight labels including Project 51, Renegade Hardware, Dispatch Recordings, Samurai Music and Commercial Suicide and has shared his intricate mixing style with crowds throughout the UK, Europe and Oceania. Building suspense expertly and with resounding alchemy, Cern presents a collection of tracks with timeless value, further elevating his reputation as one of the scene's finest producers.